St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-09-15


those who did so are as guilty as
though they threw it themselves. 1t is
charged that the defendants formed a
common purpose and were
UNITED IN A COMMON DESIGN
to aid and encourage the murder of the
policemen among whom the bomb was
thrown. If they combined to accom-
pliSh such murder by concerted action
the ordinary law of conspiracy is applic-
able, and the acts and declarations OF
one of them, done in furtherance of the
common design, are, in contemplation
of law, the acts and declaration of all.
This prosecution, however, is not for
conspiracy, as substantive crime.
Proof of conspiracy is only proof so far
as it may tend to show common de-
sign TO encourage the murder charged
against the prisoners. 1t may be intro
duced for the purpose of establishing
the position of the members of the COM
binatiOn as accessories to the crime of
murder. The questions which thus pre-
sent themselves are these: Did the
defendants have a common purpose
or design to advise, encourage,
aid or abet the murder of the
police? Did they combine together and
with others with view to carrying that
purpose or design into effect? Did
either or any of them do such acts or
make such declarations in furtherance
of the common purpose or design as did
actually have the effect of encouraging.
ton? The solution of the Ques-
tions involves an examination of
the evidence. The first inquiry
which naturally suggests itself is:
Who made the bomb which killed De
gan. Here the opinion goes into
details upon various kinds of bombs,
showing their construction, the fact
that bombs were made by Lingg, the
connection and implication of Seliger,
Thielen, Hermann and other parties in
their construction, and finally shows the
POSITIVE GUILT OF LINGG
by comparison of the make and mater
ial of the bombs found in his possession
and the pieces taken from the bodies of
Degan and other murdered policemen,
the chemical analysis being the same.
Three or four pages of the
opinion are here devoted to unintereSt-
iTg details of the International Work
ingmen's association and the extrava-
CANT and revolutionary utterances of the
ArbieteJ Zeitung and the Alarm. The
opinion then says: The association was
divided into groups, of which there were
eighty in the United States. in March,
1885, located principally in the-centers
of industry. For some time prior to
May /, 1856, there was number of these
groups in Chicago. The preceding
afternoon in the southwestern part
of the city trouble had been
melted by a speech to some ''lumber
showers" on the BLACK Road" by the
defendant Spies, who was observed to
be the most active spirit in the Hay
-af Of
venge circular" and Of the hand bills
prepared by the defendant Fischer had
fallen into the hands of the police. A
rumOr had also come to their head
quarters that it was the intention of the
parties at the Haymarket meeting to
proceed to some neighboring railroad
freight houses, where nOn-uniOn labor
ers were employed, and blow them up.
In addition to all this, it was
reported to the officer in command of
the force at the Desplaines street station
that the defendant Fielden, who was
then speaking, had just used the follow
ing language: You have nothing more
to do with the law, except to lay hands
on it and throttle it until it makes it's
last kick. Keep your eye upon it,;
throttle it; kill it; stab it. Do every
thing you can to wound it," and that
ed great excitement and caused
noisy demonstrations around the
wagon. Upon the reception of
this report, the officer in command de-
cided upon the dispersion of the meet
ing, and his men made the movement
for that purpose as already stated. AS
soon as the order to disperse was given
the defendant, Fielden, descended from
the wagon, making use of the words.
I'VE are peaceab1e." Whether or not
these words were uttered as the English
equivalent of the word ''ruhe," which
meant peace" the evidence does not
cOnclusively show. Certain it is that
no sooner had Fielden said 1--WE are
peaceable" than
THE BOMB EXPLODED,
and in few seconds thereafter volley
of shots were fired. In the city of Chi
cago were 5000 of these armed social
lists, of whom the defendant Parsons
then said that they were fully armed
with rifles and revOlverS, and would
got ready to use them. Referring to the
evidence as to the use and power of
dynamite, the opinion says: .'While
such testimony was irrelevant, yet
it contained no point to justify
reversal of the Judgment. AS
specimens of weapons which depraved
men, or men with no heart could use
against their fellow creatures, moth.
ing in modern times can approach the
means devised by these an.
archists, and they see ned to have made
study of that awful purpose. The
court very carefully explains the law as
to conspiracy in all its phases and quite
extensively from eminent authorities
The court further says it is a mistake tc
assume that defendant cannot be
charged with advising, encouraging,
aiding and abetting an unknown princi
pal in the perpetratiOn of crime
and following that point his honor
gives very familiar and trite and well
known examples, and follows with a
long list of reliable authorities. 1t is a
very clear principle of law decided by
many courts that the man aiding and
abetting, or assisting hath advised, ell.
couraged, aided or abetted the perpetra
! ton of crime, and may be considered as
the principal, and so is the case at bar
consequently some of these defendants
are correctly chargeable as accessories
before the fact. The judgment of the
criminal court of Cook county is
affirmed.
| IN CHICAGO